war dead news stories on Newser

Dover Mortuary Punished Whistle-Blowers

Kevin Spak — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:51:38 CST

Officials at the Dover Air Force Base, beset by accusations that they horrifically mistreated the nation's war dead, punished the whistle-blowers who brought those abuses to light, according to a new report from the Office of Special Counsel. The special counsel sent its 39-page report on the abuses to the...

The Last American Killed in Iraq

Matt Cantor — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 11:21:32 CST

On Nov. 14, just a month before the final US troops left Iraq, a 23-year-old soldier lost his life to an improvised explosive device. David Emanuel Hickman was the last American to be killed in a war that cost some 4,500 Americans their lives, the AP reports. With the...

Air Force Lost Fallen Soldiers' Body Parts

Kevin Spak — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 14:03:05 CST

Federal investigators savaged officers in charge of the Dover Air Force Base mortuary today, accusing them of “gross mismanagement” in their handling of America’s war dead. Among their alleged screw-ups: losing body parts, keeping poor inventory records, and, in one case, sawing off a dead Marine’s arm without consulting his...

US to North Korea: Help Us Find Fallen Soldiers

Kevin Spak — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 12:15:38 CDT

The US recovered the remains of some 220 US troops killed in the Korean War when recovery teams were allowed access to North Korea from 1996 to 2005, but the Bush administration then ended the program over fears for the teams’ safety. Now, for the first time in six years,...

Arlington Must Once Again Bury Unknown Soldiers

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 07:17:37 CST

Thanks to advances in DNA science, many thought that the “unknown soldier” was a thing of the past, but now Arlington National Cemetery finds itself, once again, with multiple unknowns to bury. Of the eight sets of remains found in a single grave in October, only three have been identified...

Army: Hundreds of Bodies Misplaced at Arlington

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:05:01 CDT

Hundreds of bodies buried at Arlington National Cemetery have been misidentified or misplaced, an Army investigation has found, in a scandal marring the reputation of the nation's pre-eminent burial ground for its honored dead since the Civil War. The cemetery's two civilian leaders will be forced to step aside, Army...

The Long History of How We Care for Our Dead

Kate Schwartz — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:32:00 CDT

In the Seminole Indian Wars of the early 1800s, only those families who could afford the cost of sending their dead relatives' remains home would receive them; the rest were buried where they took their last breath. Today, some 5,000 fallen soldiers have been flown home from Iraq and...

Afghan Survivor Tells Obama: 'You Be the Judge'

Emily Rauhala — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:43:00 CDT

American forces in Afghanistan lost "all credibility" by killing 5 civilians and attempting to hide the evidence by digging bullets out of their bodies, a new video campaign says. The video features an interview with Afghan scholar Sayid Mohammed Mal, who survived the attack. "They say they have come to...

Obama Visits Dover to Honor War Dead

Rob Quinn — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:09:06 CDT

President Obama made a surprise visit to Dover Air Force Base before dawn today to honor fallen American service members. The president arrived at the base shortly after a transport plane carrying 18 bodies landed. Obama and other officials boarded the plane and stood by as a chaplain prayed over...